Thursday, July 5, 2012

I've come to notice a couple of things about this series so far and the way it seems to be running. For one, in the past two episodes for example, anyone can tell when the characters are lying to be polite, which as we all know or should know makes things even worse in the long run by hurting feelings even more than the truth.And here's another thing. While it's typical for cartoon series to pave the way for fan art, it's a little awkward that fan stuff features same sex pairings. Mind you, there's nothing wrong with that, but I hope to believe that these kinds of fans are doing it as a means of supporting same sex relationships rather than poking fun at them. After all, I live in the state of Maine, where same sex marriage is currently illegal, but a next series of elections is going to give voters a chance to repeal this, in other words, make it legal. I actually know someone who's gay, so however iffy same sex relationships may sound to me, it's all good. Now you may ask me, "Why bring this up?" Well because in this episode, "Fall Weather Friends", I have reason to believe it started an infamous fan pairing between Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

See? This is definitely the work of bronies. Who else does this kind of fan art? Certainly not the intended audience, I should think. Now if bronies did this not just because they like cute pairings and all that shit, but also to support same sex couples in a way, I'd praise them. But I don't know if this is the reason. Now if I were to do this sort of thing, then yes, it would be for support, because as I said earlier, same sex marriage is currently illegal where I live. Besides, either way, it's love, right? Nothing wrong with that.

But for the time being, I'm just gonna wonder what goes through these bronies' heads sometimes. After all, for all I know, they could be responsible for possible porn art as well, which is pretty damn inappropriate for this kind of show.

Fall Weather Friends

So let's get on with this episode, and of course what might have started the alleged pairing between Applejack and Rainbow Dash, because it's bad enough that I keep mistaking the latter to be a dude. It all starts with a simple game of horseshoes between the two of them. After Applejack succeeds, they decide to determine who's more athletic in what is called an Iron Pony competition. Now, hold on a minute. Back in Episode 4, Rainbow Dash was acknowledging Applejack as Ponyville's best athlete. So why would Rainbow Dash suddenly get all gung-ho and believe she's more athletic all of a sudden? What brought this on? She even admitted it back then, never mind that she's the one who does all the fancy aerial moves.

Anyways, the Iron Pony competition unfolds, and the two start off evenly matched, that this until Rainbow Dash for some reason uses her wings and effortlessly wins the rest of the matches. Applejack accuses her of cheating and decides that the two should race on foot in the annual Running of the Leaves race to settle their differences. Again, here are two old issues from previous episodes.

First off, the friendship circle of the main characters is once again in question owing to competition. And second, by Running of the Leaves, I mean that the racers' prime objectives are to cause the autumn leaves to fall of the trees by the force of their running, so once again, Ponyville proves to be this location where Mother Nature just doesn't exist. Oh, and since this is Twilight's first autumn in Ponyville, she decides to partake in this event, and... wait... what?! What just happened to the seasons? Spring just gave summer a miss! Because two episodes ago, Twilight was saying this was her first winter in Ponyville! What the hell?! What happened to the season chronology?!

Oh, never mind. Back to the race. After Applejack and Rainbow trip over obstacles once, they decide to get dirty with each other, pulling out all the stops, and by that I mean pulling pranks.

Eventually, they get into a brawl and fight their way to the finish line, and although we didn't see it, the other racers had crossed first, including Twilight, so the two of them ended up tying for last place. And to top it off, no one knew that Princess Celestia herself had come to witness the race because autumn just happens to be her favorite season. She decides to offer a chance for Applejack and Rainbow to make up by clearing off the leaves of the trees that didn't fall as a result of them losing sight of the whole point of the race. They agree, and the episode ends with the two of them having a friendly race and finishing the job that needed to be done.

So, could this episode have really started the whole fan pairing between them? It's...possible.Twilight Sparkle: It's important to remember that the friendship is always more important than the competition.
Again, I give this episode a mediocre rating at most. This just isn't a series I can really get into, despite its animation being through the roof and all that, so chances are I'll seldom come across an episode that I can actually call good, like Episode 4. Maybe it's because I favor Applejack over all the other characters, I dunno. But now that I think about it, I don't know why having competition between her and Rainbow Dash was even necessary to begin with, considering Rainbow hired Applejack to launch her into the air nine episodes ago. Sure, I can understand the need for episode ideas, and the Running of the Leaves race was good enough for a plot, but the whole competition between these two gals might have just once again made their friendship unsettling. One thing's for sure, I know I'm definitely not cut to be a brony. And believe me, it's not just because I despise porn art or question bronies to be perverts or pedophiles or anything stupid. It's just that I can't quite warm up to this series apart from its animation. There's just nothing else I find that's generally good. I kind of wish there was because it would go good with the animation and I wouldn't feel like it wouldn't be completely wasted on a series that needs a good tidying up in a few places. Well, this is just another chat coming your average art school student. This is The Thunder, signing off!